Being Poor is Expensive

One of the first things that caught my eye at Maya Pedal was this poem prominently posted on the second floor at the back of the showroom. Below was the caption, “Qué caro es ser pobre,” or “How expensive it is to be poor.” So true—and unfortunately, the vast majority of Guatemalans would know.

All impoverished societies I’ve visited seem to have terrible air, water, and land (e.g., litter and trash) pollution, due to having to use smoke-belching cars and buses from decades past in pitiful states of disrepair, and not having the resources to implement trash cleanup and recycling measures. This in turn leads to worse health, which is expensive not just in terms of medical treatment, but quality of life.

But the greatest cost of poverty is time. Being poor means having to spend more hours in the day just to meet basic needs (like food) and being unable to outsource tasks you are inefficient at or having to make goods that are readily mass-produced because you don’t have enough currency for them. Or having to resort to manual labor for tasks machines could do, like washing clothes or pumping water. Or having to fix those said machines all the time, because he could not afford something newer and more reliable.

Of course, many high-income folks have some of the above issues too (particularly lack of time for leisure or friends and family), but that is usually the result of overconsumption of luxury objects and services and/or having skewed priorities.

Below is the origin poem in Spanish. Scroll down for the English translation.